The little black book online?

Esther Dyson's article (via danah) is a brilliant little piece. She speaks to many ideas, but one that grabs me most is her concern about the emergence of a new kind of surveillance - the peer-to-peer surveillance through social network manifestations. With so much social software emerging, it is becoming easier to look at sides of people you might never be able to see otherwise, to note their comings and goings (by last login dates on Friendster or posts on LJ), to monitor expansion and changes in their social networks, to even seek out their alternate selves (Google them if you like).

We have become more sensitive to our manifestations on the web as a consequence of realizing such surveillance is possible. Yet much of that realization can come too late for many. The original idea of the Internet being a free-for-all medium of free expression, devoid of necessity to identify yourself, to monitor yourself, to watch what you say, has left a mark on many a profile. Some Internet users are terrified of their Google-profile and there is little they can do due to this strange persistence of information. Digital memory is almost perfect. It rarely forgets and offers the past for observation indiscriminantly.

Gone is the time when Sherry Turkle hailed the Internet's ability to foster anonymity and, thus, freer self-expression. Surprise, turns out the Internet never really was very anonymous unless you worked really hard to make it such. Digital traces, like footprints, stay forever and can be tracked so many years later with frightening results. Is this really too paranoid? Maybe not. Or maybe the Internet stole our privacy instead of giving us more freedom. Curious thought.